Definition
Recovery time objective (RTO) is the maximum acceptable time to recover business operations after a disaster. An organization can set a short RTO for a system (like an app or website) that, if down, could affect business operations and revenues. A longer RTO is ideal for internal systems that do not affect customers or revenue.
Examples of Recovery Time Objectives
- Email server: An organization can set the RTO for an email server for 2 hours. While email is an essential communication channel, employees can use alternative methods like instant messaging or phone calls during the short outage.
- E-commerce: An e-commerce company can set a short RTO (like 30 minutes or less) for its website. This is the primary way it makes sales, so any outage can significantly affect revenue. Therefore, the company must have a solid disaster recovery plan, such as implementing redundant hosting on various data centers.
- Payroll system: An organization can set a longer RTO for its payroll system. Although payroll is essential, it doesn’t have to be available 24/7. As long as the issues can be solved before the next payroll run, it doesn’t have much impact on the business.
- Customer relationship management (CRM) system: CRM is essential for a sales-driven organization, and any disruption can result in lost sales. Therefore, an organization can set a short RTO for the CRM system.